Posted on by Holly Cain

Top 10 drivers separated by just 70 points heading into home stretch

After 16 races and 2,778 laps, the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship is as unsettled entering Saturday’s New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as it was when teams showed up in Daytona Beach to kick off the season.

Regan Smith leads Sam Hornish Jr. by a mere six points. Fifth-place Austin Dillon is only 17 back and 10th-place Trevor Bayne is still in the mix 70 points behind Smith.

The only thing that is decided heading into the weekend is that Elliott Sadler — who is third in the championship standings — is leading the series’ Dash 4 Cash bonus program and collected $100,000 for his third place last week at Daytona. He’ll compete against Dillon, rookie Kyle Larson and Hornish this week for another $100,000 bonus. If Sadler can best the group again at New Hampshire then July 21 at Chicago and win the July 27 race at Indianapolis outright, he’ll have earned a $1 million prize from Nationwide.

"We just need to keep our heads down and move forward. I’m happy it’s as close as it is."

— Sam Hornish Jr.

In the meantime, there’s a championship to decide. And no one’s running away with anything.

“It’s really been kind of crazy because normally the summer stretch is where we kind of stretch out,’’ observed Justin Allgaier, the driver of the No. 31 Brandt Chevy and fourth place in the championship, only 15 points behind Smith.

“You get through the beginning months and see who the cars are that you’re going to have to beat, then you hit the summer stretch and it usually goes one way or the other. This is probably the oddest I’ve seen it being as close as it is.”

The standings have varied widely from Hornish hanging on to a single-point advantage in April to Smith holding more than a full-race lead in June.
With four top-five finishes — a win and two runner-ups — in the first five races of the season, Hornish jumped out to a commanding 28-point edge in March only to see that dwindle.

Smith picked up where Hornish left off and had amassed a 58-point lead three weeks ago and put 10th-place Brian Vickers a distant 100 points back.

Yet as the teams arrive in New England, it’s almost as if the season’s been re-set.

“If you would have ask me leaving California how I felt, I’d be pretty upset to come back here and have it be as close as it is, but leaving Michigan, if you were to ask me, I’m pretty happy about it,’’ said Hornish, who drives the No. 12 Alliance Trucks Ford.

“Three races ago we were 58 points out and now we’re back in. I’m happy about that and we knew going into the road courses would be where we could make some up. We just need to keep our heads down and move forward. I’m happy it’s as close as it is.

“Hopefully we’ll have this reset and get out of here with a decent finish and start getting that points lead back and building on it.’’

The extreme fortunes have also given new hope to drivers such as Sadler, Allgaier and Dillon, who are very much in the thick of things even though Smith and Hornish have been the only names atop the standings this season.

“I would say the top eight are closest I’ve seen in a long time for this part of the season,’’ Allgaier said. “I’d like to say it’s going to separate itself out so that you have a little breathing room if you have a bad race you’re not worried that you’re back 10th in the points.

“But at same time, the way we’ve seen the competition level this year has been amazing here in the Nationwide Series and that’s why you’re seeing guys closer. It’s how hard it is to separate yourself from somebody.

“You have a good day and it’s top-five and they (the guys leading the championship) are running seventh.  Last week in Kentucky, we had a decent day and I lost a spot in points. We’ve all noticed it’s really crazy how competitive it is.’’

Dillon couldn’t agree more.

“I think you see the guys up there still that you’ll see come and go, you see the guys that you know you’re going to have to race slowly move their way back into the top five, top three,’’ said Dillon, driver of the No. 3 AdvoCare Chevy.

“It’s such a long season, people are going to have bad luck. It’s just so hard to be consistent for 33 races and as tight as the competition level is right now you can’t have a mistake or a fall to get the lead. And once you have the lead, it seems like it’s even harder to keep it. ‘’

That’s certainly been the case. Despite their best efforts, neither Hornish nor Smith has riden off into the sunset yet.

Hornish has a win, a series best six top-five showings, and only four finishes worse than 10th. But when he’s not challenging for a win, it’s been the opposite extreme — 34th at Texas and 32nd at Michigan.

It’s been a similar situation for Smith, who also boasts impressive statistics but had had his points lead suffer on consecutive 32nd- (Road America) and 30th-place (Kentucky) outings.

“It’s exactly what we knew could happen,’’ Hornish said. “There’s a lot of people we felt like would have opportunities to run good and be there for the championship. I felt like Regan was going to be a tough competitor and obviously, Elliott (Sadler) and Austin (Dillon). When I look at who’s around me when we park here in line, it’s the same guys and that’s how it goes.

“You’re going to have (off) days like that. People will catch up to you. We just need to get back to doing what we did the first five races of the year and find that stride because we were just gaining points and had a strong lead early.

“When I look at how we’ve run, there’s no reason why we can’t gain points every weekend and win this championship. I feel like we have all the opportunity in the world to win the championship if we do the right things.’’

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Posted on by George Winkler

Midway through the season, the Chase is shaping up to be one of the closest in years

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The next eight races leading up to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup are almost certain to produce plenty of drama for those of us watching, as well as the drivers and teams competing for their playoff lives. One or two good or bad finishes down the stretch could make a big difference, more so than in recent memory.

That’s because from Kurt Busch, who is in ninth place, to Jamie McMurray, who is in 17th, the gap is only 26 points. With drivers bunched so closely, we could see more shakeups in the standings like we saw coming out of Daytona last week when Tony Stewart and Busch improved six and five places, respectively, and Joey Logano and Paul Menard both dropped five spots.

To use a racing analogy, this Wild Card race figures to be similar to drivers going four-wide at Daytona. How long can it last before someone makes a slight bobble and sends themselves, along with maybe a few others, careening into the wall? And who will emerge when the dust settles?

McMurray is the perfect example of how fortunes can change quickly. Two consecutive top-10 finishes have moved him up from 21st place to 17th, but the gap between him and the contenders has shrunk from 58 points to the aforementioned 26. However, it could be tough for McMurray to continue the upward trend during this week’s Camping World RV Sales 301 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, TNT) in New Hampshire, where in 20 career Sprint Cup starts he has just four top-10s.

It also could be tough because of the sheer unpredictability of the sport. McMurray summed up the swings of fortune after finishing second two weeks ago at Kentucky.

“It’s just the last 10 percent of the race, something has happened each week.  Michigan, blew a tire; Dover, something fell off a car and went through our radiator; Charlotte, the radiator broke; last weekend, had a flat tire with, I don’t know, 30 laps to go or whatever.

“It’s just every week it’s been something. So it’s nice to have some good luck, yeah, feel good about it.”

Will McMurray have better luck this week? Well, when it comes to closing at New Hampshire, McMurray hasn’t exactly been Craig Kimbrel-esque. According to NASCAR Loop Data, in the past eight years at New Hampshire, the No. 1 car is only tied for 47th in positions improved in the last 10 percent of laps. He will have to buck the trend in order to finish strong this week.

While McMurray has experienced plenty of ups and downs, Stewart might be the poster boy for this wildest of Wild Card races. A month ago Stewart was in 10th place after a fifth-place finish at Michigan. He dropped to 15th after Sonoma and to 16th following Kentucky before rebounding to 10th with a second-place showing at Daytona.

Said Stewart of the wreck-filled finish at Daytona, “Just glad we were ahead of the carnage.”

This week could be Stewart’s chance to stay ahead of the carnage for good. His history in Loudon, N.H., provides a decent indicator: In 28 starts, he has 17 top-10s, including three wins with his last ‘W’ coming in the second race at the track in 2011. He also holds the highest average driver rating in the last 16 races in New Hampshire at 111.7.

In other words, we might finally get to see the No. 14 solidify his spot among the Chase contenders.

Ready to pounce: After four straight weeks hanging out in 18th place, Ryan Newman moved up to 16th last week with a 10th-place showing at Daytona. It was his seventh top-10 finish this season and second of the year at Daytona.

But for a guy who has crashed out of three races this year and suffered an engine failure in another to be just eight points behind Kasey Kahne, the final Wild Card contender, isn’t bad. And when you examine Nemwan’s history at New Hampshire, one can see how it could go from not bad to better.

In 22 starts at the 1.06-mile track, Newman has 15 top-10s, including three victories with his last win there coming from the early race in 2011. He also has won six Coors Light Poles at New Hampshire and holds a 94.9 average driver rating there in the past 16 races, which is seventh among active drivers.

In danger of dropping out: Aric Almirola was a nice sleeper pick early in the season when he posted four straight top-10 finishes from Texas to Talladega. But after placing 20th at Darlington, he went on to finish no better than 15th in his next seven races, including two crashes.

After the second of those crashed-out races last week at Daytona, he dropped three spots in the standings to 19th and is teetering on the brink of Chase extinction. Can he get back on an Almi-roll-a?

It’s not looking too good. Although it’s a small sample size, Almirola has zero top-10 finishes in his five Cup races in Loudon. However, he did finish in the top-five there in 2011 as a NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, so there is that glimmer of hope for fans of the No. 43 car.

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Chase Elliott ready for fourth start in Camping World Truck Series this weekend at Iowa

Age does not seem to matter to Chase Elliott. He’s always seemed much older than his 17 years, whether that’s due to his eloquence and politeness, or his rise through the racing ranks.

The son of 1988 NASCAR champion Bill Elliott returns to the sport’s national division this weekend, in the Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway. A victory would make him the youngest winner in the circuit’s history, surpassing Ryan Blaney, who prevailed at the same Hawkeye State track at 18 years and eight months last September.

"We’ve got to kind of take it a step at a time, but I feel that things are going in a very good direction."

— Bill Elliott, on his son Chase Elliott

But to the younger Elliott, the only number that matters is the position of his No. 94 truck at the end of Saturday night’s event.

“I haven’t thought about it a whole lot,” he said of potentially breaking Blaney’s record. “For me, we are just there to win like everybody else is, and try to do a better job than the next guy. So haven’t really put a whole lot into my age, and how old I am, and how old the rest of these guys are. Just more so our personal program, and what we need to do to be a little bit better.”

Such focus would certainly make dad proud. Bill Elliott has seen his son’s rapid progression, through Bandolero and Legends cars, into late models and the K&N Pro Series — and now into NASCAR’s national ranks. Thanks to a rule change late last year that lowered the minimum Truck Series age to 16 for road courses and ovals of 1.1 miles or less, Chase has already made three starts on that circuit, finishing sixth or better in all of them.

His most recent NASCAR national-series outing was the Truck Series event at Dover in late May, where he finished fourth. The next month, he became the youngest driver ever to win an ARCA race on a speedway when he prevailed at Pocono. Later, he held the lead in the final lap of an ARCA event at Road America, before bobbling in a corner and finishing fourth.

It all sets the stage for Elliott to potentially make a breakthrough at NASCAR’s national level, like Blaney did a year ago. His father, winner of 44 races at the sport’s premier level, certainly thinks it’s possible.

“I think (he’s) very close,” Bill said. “I mean, given the right circumstances, as good as we’ve run the past number of races … you don’t necessarily have to have the best truck. You’ve just got to put yourself in position to win.

“We’ve got a great group of guys around him, and given the right circumstance, I believe he can have them. But on the flipside, it can go the other way, too. But I think it’s very, very possible. I mean, we ran really well at Dover. You kind of look at that scenario and how tough a race track that is, and now we’re going to Iowa and he’s had good success there in what he’s run there. So, you know, he’s got a pretty good understanding of that race track and he seems to do very well at those type race tracks, from Phoenix to Iowa to Loudon to Dover. We’ve got to kind of take it a step at a time, but I feel that things are going in a very good direction.”

Chase, a Hendrick Motorsports developmental driver who won a K&N Pro Series East event at the seven-eighths mile Iowa track last season, would certainly agree. In his most recent Truck Series race, he started second and led 15 laps before finishing fourth.

“I think we are pretty close, personally,” he said. “I feel like everything is where it needs to be to have success. I feel like our trucks are fast, and all the guys do a really good job. I feel like if we can just get to Iowa this weekend and I can do my job and know what I want when we unload and just put together a mistake‑free race, I think we are right there, man. I feel pretty confident in that, and yeah, the biggest thing is just me learning. I’ve made a lot of mistakes these past three races, and if I can just put a mistake‑free race on my end and if the guys can do their job, I think we are right there.”

Moving up the ladder so quickly is not without its challenges. Aside from the late bobble that likely cost him a victory at Road America, Chase said he also struggled at Dover with green-flag pit stops. He’s placed an emphasis on trying to improve in that area, calling pit road his “biggest speed bump so far.”

But those growing pains haven’t stopped Rick Hendrick from saying he’d like to put Chase in a full-time Nationwide Series ride next season — by which time he’d meet the minimum age requirement of 18 — should the sponsorship come together. Hendrick, which fields Elliott’s truck in conjunction with Turner Scott Motorsports, hasn’t put together a full-time Nationwide ride for a single driver since 2006.

“I feel like I’m ready for it, personally,” Chase said. “I think given the right opportunity, I feel like I can do a good enough job behind the wheel to be competitive at that level, and hopefully that’s what works out.

“Obviously, a lot of it is still up in the air. I don’t want to jinx anything by any means. Obviously, we are shooting for full‑time doing something. I don’t know what that will be, but me personally and us as a group, we want to go race full‑time next year, and I think if we can have a good rest of the season this year and get some good results and finishes, and hopefully get to Victory Lane, I think next year will figure itself out.”

First things first — like his senior year of high school beginning in the fall, and Saturday night’s Truck Series race in Iowa. Bill Elliott struggles to grasp how far ahead of the game his son is. “My God, what the kid’s already won is incredible,” he said. But he’s not quite ready to envision Chase in a NASCAR Victory Lane — not just yet, anyway.

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes,” Bill added. “But it is a good thing. You just never know. I mean, you don’t count it until it happens, and you worry about that on the next step. … I guess I’m too much of a realist. But you know, it’s a tough sport, and that’s one thing you’ve got to understand about it. It’s not a very forgiving sport, and I think you’ve seen that the last number of races here with Jimmie (Johnson) and all the guys. Somebody can have a really good race going, and all of a sudden things can turn around and go the other way. It’s just, Lady Luck’s on your side that afternoon, and (you) put all the pieces together that you come out in Victory Lane.”

Related: Elder Elliott not yet ready to retire | Video: Meet Chase Elliott

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NASCAR officials rule parts did not impact safety, functionality

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NASCAR on Wednesday determined no penalties were in order for 31 national-series teams caught using noncompliant roof flap spacers last weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Following what it termed a “thorough review,” the sanctioning body announced there would be no penalties to the 16 Sprint Cup Series teams and 15 Nationwide Series programs that had their modified spacers confiscated last Thursday. The spacers support the hinge bar of the roof flap, which is a safety mechanism designed to keep the car on the ground in the event of a spin.

“We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties invol­­ved,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s  vice president of competition. “Based upon our inspection and subsequen­­t review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted."

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“Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made.”

 

The Sprint Cup teams involved were those of drivers Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Trevor Bayne, Aric Almirola, Marcos Ambrose, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears.

 

The Nationwide Series teams involved were those of Busch, Kenseth, Bayne, Brian Vickers, Travis Pastrana, Michael Annett, Cole Whitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Landon Cassill, Blake Koch, Mike Bliss, Reed Sorenson, Robert Richardson Jr., Jason White and Dexter Stacey.

 

Roof flaps — technically known as “hinged air deflectors” — come in a kit supplied to teams by a division of Roush Industries. Section 20-3.8-J of the Sprint Cup Rule Book specifies that they “must be NASCAR-approved and obtained only through NASCAR-approved sources.” They also “must be installed as specified in the instruction sheet supplied with the hinged air deflector kit.” The small, cylindrical spacers sit inside the cavity below the flap.

 

The belief is that teams replaced the spacers to try and shave weight from their race cars — particularly key on the Sprint Cup circuit, where crews are working with a new, Generation-6 vehicle that is 150 pounds lighter than its predecessor. Although the spacers have more to do with how the housing fits into the roof then they do with how the flaps deploy, NASCAR still explicitly forbids teams from modifying a safety system designed to help keep cars on the ground.

 

“I’m truly convinced, if this is all about saving weight, that these spacers did not hurt the integrity of the roof flaps,” said Larry McReynolds, a former crew chief and now a television analyst. “But the bottom line is, the roof flap is a sacred area. It has been ever since we started running them in the early ’90s. It comes in a kit, and per the NASCAR rule, you are not to deviate from anything on those flaps — not the bolts, not the spacers, not the flaps, not the cavities, not the location. You are not to deviate from them whatsoever.”

 

In this case, though, NASCAR chose not to levy any penalties. Pemberton said last weekend that the spacers were “probably not something that was on a normal inspection routine,” leaving open the possibility that teams may have been using the modified versions prior to Daytona.

 

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Despite significance of 1979 brawl, Bobby Allison treasures his wins at Daytona instead

Bobby Allison helped put Daytona International Speedway and NASCAR racing in general on the map.

But the memories of Daytona that Allison treasures most don’t come from the 1979 backstretch brawl with Cale Yarborough.

Most of all, Allison remembers winning the Daytona 500 — in 1978 and 1982. The victory in the 1978 Daytona 500 was particularly gratifying, because it followed a winless season fraught with engine failures in 1977, as Allison struggled to keep a car on the track as an owner/driver.

"In 1978, I was worn down from the previous two years and really was exhausted — physically, personally exhausted — and Bud Moore called and asked me to drive the car," Allison told the NASCAR Wire Service four hours before the green flag for last Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

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"That was great for me, but I didn’t recover immediately. It took me a few more months to really recover, and we went on and really did some good things. But to win the Daytona 500 under those circumstances, that was special."

So was 1982, when the rear bumper of Allison’s car was torn off in an early wreck, and the NASCAR Hall of Famer rallied to win the race.

And, of course, there’s the Daytona 500 Allison doesn’t remember at all. In 1988, he and son Davey Allison finished 1-2 in the Great American Race. But a horrific crash at Pocono in June of that year critically injured Allison, ended his career and wiped out all memory of the historic run with Davey.

"I don’t remember any race in 1988 at all," said Allison, who lost Davey to a helicopter crash at Talladega five years later.

The ruckus in 1979 is a different matter. Allison remembers that race as if it were yesterday. Brother Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough wrecked each other on the final lap, battling for the win. Bobby stopped his car on the infield grass, climbed from the car and defended his brother’s honor with his fists.

Richard Petty took the checkered flag, but it was the fight that brought stock car racing to the national stage in the first live flag-to-flag telecast of a 500-mile NASCAR event.

The sanctioning body nevertheless made the drivers pay the price for behaving badly.

"They fined us $6,000 apiece for getting in that skirmish," Allison said.

Donnie Allison and Yarborough, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, earned enough money to cover the fine, and NASCAR withheld $6,000 each from the purse for those two drivers. Bobby Allison wasn’t so fortunate. His prize money, exclusive of contingencies, wasn’t enough to cover the fine.

"I had run 11th in the Daytona 500, and I only won $4,000," Allison said. "So we had to go home and get a check for $2,000 to pay my fine so I could race the next week.

"So then we were good boys for a few weeks, and NASCAR refunded the prize money withheld. They’ve still got my $2,000."

In fact, whenever talk turns to the 1979 race, Allison seldom fails to use the moment for some tongue-in-cheek lobbying for the return of his $2,000.

In all seriousness, though, his love for Daytona remains undiminished. Allison was the last driver to sweep both NASCAR Sprint Cup races at the 2.5-mile superspeedway before Jimmie Johnson added his name to the elite list last Saturday.

"I always really enjoy this place," Allison said. "I look forward to it, and when I get here, I have a really good time. I look around and I think about stuff that went on, but also, the area. I like the area.

"I still have my favorite restaurant over there — Park’s Seafood — but this is the Super Bowl of our racing, so it always was special, and when you get back here, it’s still special."

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Posted on by Jason Lofing

First siblings to earn top-two spots in a NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship event

The NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship saw its first sibling 1-2 finish on Tuesday night when brothers Joshua and Chad Laughton crossed the line first and second respectively at Talladega Superspeedway. The brothers worked together off and on for much of the race and found each other when it counted, with Joshua getting pushed to the lead by Chad on Lap 84.

From there, it was all about having smooth restarts and quickly hooking up into a two-car tandem, which both brothers did perfectly en route to sweeping the top two positions. Peter Bennett finished third, Brandon Kettelle, who is always strong at the restrictor plate tracks, was fourth and Andrew Fayash III rallied from a thirty-ninth place starting spot to finish fifth.

Daytona winner Adam Gilliland started on pole and looked strong early as he led 14 laps. His tandem partner Matt Whitten also led nine laps early on as the two looked to factor into the battle for the win. Unfortunately, Whitten got caught up in a crash, leaving Gilliland without a drafting partner in the closing stages.

Starting up front at Talladega actually turned out to be a disadvantage. Only one driver (Chad Laughton) who finished in the top ten had a top fifteen starting position. It seemed as if nearly every contender for the win would get taken out shortly after they had made their way to the front.

The Laughton brothers avoided the carnage by staying just far enough behind the big packs of cars, giving themselves enough breathing room to avoid the crashes which caused the yellow flag to fly seven times during the race. In all, 27 of 94 laps were completed with the pace car leading the field.

Points leader Tyler Hudson came into Talladega with a slim lead in the standings and things took a turn for the worse shortly after the race got underway. Hudson was running near the rear of the field on lap four when he ran into the back of John Gorlinsky trying to avoid trouble ahead. The contact left Hudson with a crumpled nose and short on speed. He was quickly lapped and spent the middle portion of the race a lap down to the race leaders. However, the frequent cautions allowed Hudson to get the lucky dog and fix his damage which allowed the championship leader to salvage a ninth place result and extend his points lead.

Hudson was thankful he toughed it out, “When I went almost two laps down I was on the very edge of pulling it in for the night,” said Hudson. “Anyway, in the end Casey Malone really saved me. We were both torn up pretty bad but all things considered we made a plan and stuck with it ‘til the end and we backed ourselves into a top 10.”

Nick Ottinger looked to be in prime position to grab the points lead after Hudson’s early trouble, but fell victim to damage after contact on Lap 72 while battling Kettelle for the lead. Ottinger continued on and attempted to work his way forward but was collected in the big crash on Lap 91, which relegated him to 21st. He now sits 22 points out of the lead.

Ray Alfalla, who is now 29 points out of the lead, also missed a golden opportunity at Talladega. After starting dead last, Alfalla quickly moved through the field and looked to be a contender for the win. His luck ran out on Lap 67 when he was involved in a crash on the frontstretch. Alfalla did not lose a lap and continued on, but the car never had the same amount of speed and he finished 20th.

Brian Schoenburg and Marcus Lindsey, who are fourth and fifth in the standings, failed to finish because of crash damage and are in danger of falling out of the championship hunt. They now sit 37 and 52 points out of the lead and will need the three drivers in front of them to have trouble if they have any hopes of rejoining the title fight.

Next up on the NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship schedule is one of the most famous circuits in all of motorsports; Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Drivers will likely be thankful to have the final restrictor plate race in the rear-view mirror, but will have to contend with a track not well suited for big, heavy stock cars. This track favors the veterans so look for the top five in the standings to make a push to the front here.

After nearly four years, will this be the race in which Hudson picks up his much overdo first win? If he hopes to do it, he’ll surely have to deal with Alfalla and Ottinger, both of whom have been strong every week this season.  Be sure to catch all the action from Indy in two weeks on iRacing Live and MRN.com!

            Average Lap Time Laps Completed Cautions Caution Laps Lead Changes         
            1:10.113 94 7 27 43         
Fin Pos Driver Start Pos Car # Interval Laps Led
 Fast Lap Time
 Fastest Lap Time
Fast Lap # Laps Comp.
 Pts
 Status
1 Joshua Laughton 35 40 0 10 01:10.1 46.287 76 94 47 Running
2 Chad J Laughton 15 26 -0.168 1 01:10.1 46.394 56 94 43 Running
3 Peter Bennett 37 69 -0.781 8 01:10.1 46.337 57 94 42 Running
4 Brandon Kettelle 22 80 -1.239 10 01:10.1 46.351 57 94 41 Running
5 Andrew Fayash III 39 157 -1.677 0 01:10.1 46.195 83 94 39 Running
6 Matt Bussa 36 34 -2.195 0 01:10.1 46.182 74 94 38 Running
7 Thomas Lewandowski 25 16 -2.699 0 01:10.2 46.194 83 94 37 Running
8 Rob Ackley 33 22 -2.954 0 01:10.1 46.183 74 94 36 Running
9 Tyler D Hudson 40 1 -3.2 0 01:08.9 46.461 74 94 35 Running
10 Casey Malone 34 92 -3.582 0 01:10.1 46.461 74 94 34 Running
11 Danny Hansen 20 20 -4.009 0 01:10.2 46.267 85 94 33 Running
12 Dylan Duval 14 42 -4.356 5 01:10.2 46.363 40 94 33 Running
13 Kevin King 17 29 -4.505 1 01:08.6 46.54 32 94 32 Running
14 Bryan Blackford 28 33 -4.977 0 01:10.2 46.506 32 94 30 Running
15 Adam Gilliland 1 81 -5.685 14 01:10.4 46.107 76 94 31 Running
16 Brandon Buie 21 54 -6.378 0 01:10.2 46.258 41 94 28 Running
17 Chad Coleman 4 28 -7.604 0 01:10.2 46.261 76 94 27 Running
18 Landon Harrison 7 89 -8.402 0 01:08.6 46.526 57 94 26 Running
19 Carson McClelland 16 24 -8.932 0 01:10.2 46.282 85 94 25 Running
20 Ray Alfalla 41 2 -9.619 6 01:07.1 46.238 9 94 25 Running
21 Nick Ottinger 2 5 -1 L 4 01:09.4 46.337 56 93 24 Running
22 Alex Warren 6 82 -2 L 0 01:08.9 46.541 57 92 22 Running
23 Brian Schoenburg 24 55 -3 L 0 01:07.4 46.383 51 91 21 Disconnected
24 Byron Daley 5 93 -4 L 3 01:07.8 46.363 40 90 21 Running
25 Matt Whitten 8 18 -8 L 9 01:06.1 46.107 76 86 20 Running
26 Carson Downs 13 97 -9 L 0 01:06.1 46.261 76 85 18 Disconnected
27 Jake Stergios 29 41 -9 L 1 01:14.6 46.523 5 85 18 Running
28 Chris Main 31 38 -18 L 4 01:04.1 46.269 41 76 17 Disconnected
29 Richard Dusett 30 96 -18 L 1 01:04.1 46.339 42 76 16 Running
30 Michael Conti 3 5 -18 L 0 01:04.1 46.241 76 76 14 Disconnected
31 John Gorlinsky 32 21 -26 L 0 01:01.7 46.27 41 68 13 Disconnected
32 Cody Byus 23 27 -27 L 7 01:01.8 46.518 28 67 13 Disconnected
33 Michael J Johnson 11 39 -27 L 0 01:01.7 46.235 9 67 11 Running
34 Derek Crone 12 7 -28 L 4 01:01.7 46.53 42 66 11 Disconnected
35 Marcus Lindsey 9 1 -28 L 0 01:02.1 46.336 42 66 9 Running
36 Paul Kusheba 38 32 -28 L 0 01:01.7 46.36 51 66 8 Disconnected
37 Patrick Baldwin 27 52 -45 L 0 01:00.2 46.259 41 49 7 Disconnected
38 Brad Davies 19 11 -45 L 0 55.12 46.389 43 49 6 Disconnected
39 Josh Berry 18 91 -61 L 6 47.196 46.475 28 33 6 Disconnected
40 Joey Brown 10 12 -62 L 0 48.734 46.499 4 32 4 Disconnected
41 Brandon Schmidt 26 3 -62 L 0 48.685 46.498 4 32 3 Disconnected
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NASCAR rules roof spacers did not impact safety, functionality

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Following a thorough review, NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will not assess penalties to the teams that had to change out the spacers that support the hinge bar of the car’s roof flaps last week at Daytona International Speedway. There were 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams and 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series teams that were involved.

“We examined this from every aspect we possibly could and determined that there would be no penalties involved,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition. “Based upon our inspection and subsequent review, it was our determination that the functionality and safety aspects of the roof flaps were not compromised and the on track competition would not be impacted. Moving forward we will work with the roof flap manufacturer and the race teams to evaluate and optimize the associated installation hardware, review the process in its totality and communicate in a timely manner to the garage area any revisions that we determine need to be made.”

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Son of Hall of Famer gets back on track for four races

Adrian Carriers Racing announced Wednesday that the organization has agreed with driver Steve Wallace for a four-race stint in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  Wallace, the 26-year-old son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, will take the wheel of the No. 97 Adrian Carriers/Liz Girl Logistics Chevrolet for the first time this Saturday in the American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway.

“We are very excited about having an experienced driver like Steve Wallace join the Adrian Racing team,” said team owner Gary Adrian. “He’s a hands-on driver, coming in from North Carolina to Quad Cities (Iowa) to install his own seat and help prepare the truck over the Fourth of July holiday. That really impressed me.”

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The younger Wallace has raced in all three of NASCAR’s national series, including a top-20 finish in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at the 2011 Daytona 500. He finished among the top 10 in Nationwide Series points from 2009-11 and won the inaugural ARCA event at Iowa in 2006.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity this Adrian Carriers team has given me," Wallace said. "I had a lot of fun in the handful of truck races I drove before, and Iowa Speedway is one of my very best tracks. I’m looking forward to having a good run with the Adrian Carriers group this weekend.”

In addition to Saturday’s event, Wallace’s other outings in the Truck Series tentatively include the second Iowa race on Sept. 8, Chicagoland on Sept. 13, and Phoenix on Nov. 8.

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On NASCAR Day in Ohio, four-time Nationwide winner announces return to series

With NASCAR’s national series returning to the Buckeye State for the first time since 2008, the Ohio Governor’s office issued a resolution on Wednesday, recognizing July 10, 2013 as NASCAR Day.

Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor welcomed NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Marcos Ambrose, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Regan Smith and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Darrell Wallace Jr. to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. She acknowledged the benefits brought by NASCAR racing to her state.

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“NASCAR has a strong presence in Ohio providing fans with excitement and our local communities with an economic boost,” Lt. Gov Taylor said. “Partnerships between NASCAR and local raceways make Ohio an important part of the sport’s culture and we look forward to what will be a great 2013 summer racing season.”

Other public officials who spoke included Bonnie Burman Director, Ohio Dept. of Aging, a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and an avid NASCAR fan, as well as members of the Ohio General Assembly Senator Jim Hughes, District 16 (R) and Representative Barbara Sears, District 47 (R).

In addition to holding two national series races in a year in the state for the first time since 1952, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series will host six events over the next month at Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, OH; Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio and Columbus Motor Speedway in Columbus, Ohio, where the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East also will run a race on Saturday. On Sunday, another NASCAR-sanctioned event — the Mobil 1 Mid-Season Championship Night — will be run at Lake County Speedway in Painesville, Ohio.

“Ohio has always been a great place for racing, especially at our Home Tracks, whose drivers and fans make up the backbone of our sport,” Pemberton said. “This summer will be particularly exciting with the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio — marking the long-awaited return of NASCAR national series racing to Ohio.”

Ambrose, a four-time winner in the Nationwide Series, announced that he will be running a No. 9 Stanley Ford at Mid-Ohio.

"This will be a new challenge for everyone in the Nationwide Series, and I’m thankful for Stanley and Richard Petty Motorsports working together to give me this opportunity," Ambrose said. "I missed racing in the Nationwide Series last season, but Mid-Ohio will be a great way to come back. We have Stanley supporting us the entire weekend and we want to give them a win."

A NASCAR national series last competed in Ohio in 2008, with the running of the Camping World Truck Series event at Mansfield Motorsports Park. Trucks will roll again on Ohio soil, literally, on July 24 during the CarCash Mudsummer Classic presented by CNBC Prime’s "The Profit" (9:30 p.m. ET on SPEED, MRN Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio) in Rossburg, Ohio at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway, which will host the first NASCAR national touring series event held on dirt since NASCAR’s premiere series competed on September 30, 1970 in Raleigh, N.C. GRAND-AM Road Racing has raced at Mid-Ohio since 2000, with a one-year hiatus in 2002.

The Nationwide Series will run the first event in series history in title sponsor Nationwide Insurance’s home state. Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio will host the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (August 17, 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, MRN Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio). In addition to Nationwide Insurance, based on Columbus, Ohio is home to another important NASCAR partner, Goodyear, located in Akron.

NASCAR last ran multiple national series races in Ohio in 1952 when the sport’s premier series, now known as the Sprint Cup Series, held events at Canfield Fairgrounds, Dayton Speedway and Ft. Miami Speedway in Toledo, Ohio.

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